Vision, not demonization, is needed in immigration debate

ONE example of why U.S. immigration laws need to be improved can be found in a recent story in

The Oklahoman about immigrants’ impact on Oklahoma’s economy.

Included in the story was an anecdote about an Oklahoma resident, Akash Patel, who whose parents were from India. Patel was born in England. He said it took the three of them 22 years to become U.S. citizens. Twenty-two years! There has to be a better way.

President Trump has proposed moving away from the present immigration system, which gives preferences to relatives of U.S. citizens and permanent residents, and instead adopting to a merit-based system that would benefit those entering the country with special skills. “It will save countless dollars, raise workers’ wages, and help struggling families, including immigrant families, enter the middle class,” Trump told Congress last month.

However, as reporter Don Lee noted last week in the Los Angeles Times, new arrivals to this country “are increasingly better educated and well off” as a result of changing migration patterns and rising incomes worldwide. In addition, the flow of illegal immigrants from south of the U.S. border has slowed during the past decade.

That last point is often dismissed by those who wish to see the United States clamp down on immigration, legal and illegal. Trump tapped into that sentiment successfully on his way to winning the election in November, and continues to do so. In his speech to Congress, he noted families who had had loved ones killed by illegal immigrants.

Those stories are true, and they’re as infuriating as they are heartbreaking. However, they can also serve to foster derision and suspicion where neither is merited. The overwhelming number of immigrants in this country are law-abiding, and they make positive contributions to this country.

The Pew Research Center says more than half of U.S. population growth since 1965 resulted from immigrants and their children and grandchildren. Today, Oklahoma is home to nearly 220,000 immigrants — including undocumented, those with work permits and those with U.S. citizenship. A report by The New American Economy, a coalition of 500 mayors and business leaders advocating for immigration reform, says Oklahoma immigrants paid more than $346 million in state and local taxes in 2014. Roughly 40,800 Oklahoma immigrants are homeowners, and 10,000 are self-employed.

In a recent editorial, The Wall Street Journal noted a report produced by the head of the National Foundation for American Policy, who interviewed the 40 finalists (and their parents) in last year’s Regeneron Science Talent Search, which is billed as “the nation’s most prestigious pre-college science competition.” Eighty-three percent of the finalists were children of immigrants, compared with 60 percent in 2004. “Note to GOP restrictionists: Immigration literally spawns innovation,” the Journal wrote.

That argument is sure to fall flat in some circles, but it’s true. This is a nation of immigrants, and generally is much richer for it. That doesn’t mean improvements to the system aren’t needed — they are. Producing those, however, will require less demonization and more vision.